ShareTheBook.com-The Shuttle Saucer Accident

Page 2

Chapter 1 - Going Home

  There was a bump as the docking arm let loose of the mooring, freeing the small ship to begin its trip toward Earth's orbiting station known as Gamma Space Dock. A funny feeling tickled the stomachs of the passengers as all sense of gravity left. The ship headed off at a right angle from where it had disconnected from the station. "Hydrogen fusion engines will ignite when we are fully clear of the station," announced the computer. Then the trip would begin in earnest. Until that time, Jasen and the other twenty-six passengers were weightless.
   After the engine burn, the gyros would start the ship spinning. The spinning disk with the passengers on the outer rim would create an artificial, centrifugal force gravity.
   "Asteroids! I don't like this!" said a nearby voice right of Jasen's seat. He tried turning his helmet enough to see who had let out the curse. The face peering out of the next helmet had a slightly green pallor to it. Jasen thought he could see a slender built boy about his age. He looked like he might be sick at any moment.
   "Hey, you," Jasen coached, "hang on just a little longer and we'll have grav again!" Jasen used the space slang word "grav" for gravity. The first true spacers used a lot shortened words just to shorten talk time and thus save oxygen. Even though oxygen conservation wasn't a big concern these days, the slang had stuck.
   "I don't think I can," said the other kid. His voice was higher than most boys and just didn't sound right to Jasen.
       "If you don't hold on, more of us will get sick too, and you'll make a terrible mess in this zero-G. Didn't you take an SS pill yet?" Most travelers used Space Sickness pills in zero gravity.
   "I forgot mine, OK!?" squeaked the other passenger sounding even sicker.
    Jasen reached inside his travel pack and produced a pink foil package marked "SS" in black letters. "Here, take these," he offered. The boy snatched the packet from where Jasen had left it floating in front of his view screen. He fumbled to open his visor, used his teeth to tear open the foil, and squirted the two blue pills into his mouth. Then he took a drink from his suit water tube and worked at swallowing the pills without the help of gravity. The pills worked quickly and a normal color started to return to his face. Then he turned his head away inside the helmet and put the shield back down. The faceplate turned dark as he turned the "Visor Cloud" on.
   Jasen sat staring, wondering if he was going to say anything. Not even a thank-you! How do you like that? thought Jasen. "Great!" he muttered to himself. "Not only do I have to ride next to a space rookie, he's a clam too."   Just then, Jasen noticed the name patch on his seatmate's arm. "Jennifer S. Tagen".
   "Hey," Jasen almost blurted out, "What kind of name is Jennifer for a guy?" Then Jasen started to turn a little green. He was a she! Oh, man! he thought. Just what I need, a stuck-up girl to sit next to for the next 12 hours.

   Behind the Visor Cloud, round tear drops floated in front of Jennifer's face. Some tried to find their way up her nose as she breathed. Others stuck to her face and wet the inside of the visor.
   If she opened the visor to tend to the problem, the passengers around her would know that she was crying. Jennifer Solar Tagen didn't want to chance anyone else seeing how she was doing.
   The two young people's thoughts were interrupted by the computer-voice announcing the beginning of the trajectory burn countdown. It started at sixty seconds and began to count. This gave everyone in the cabin time to settle in and make sure nothing was floating around near them that might fall in the acceleration. ". . . Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Ignition start," came the message.